Armed only with handbags, there are two figures who have come to dominate – even to personify – the post-war history of Britain. Yesterday, one came to say farewell to the other.

With her mere presence at St Paul’s Cathedral, the Sovereign spoke more loudly than any number of prayers, obituaries, parliamentary eulogies, angry phone-ins and demonstrations.

In life, Margaret Thatcher had been extraordinary. The same, therefore, would apply to her funeral. That is why our longest-lived Monarch had come to salute our first and only female Prime Minister – arriving before her and leaving after her.

A stickler for protocol, Lady Thatcher would have been thrilled. Only Winston Churchill had been accorded the same accolade – back in 1965.

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Emotional: A tearful Carol Thatcher is consoled by her brother Sir Mark and his wife Sarah, as they arrive at Mortlake Crematorium to say goodbye to Baroness Thatcher

Grief: Sarah Thatcher (left) and Amanda Thatcher. They attended the private service for close family and friends yesterday

Final journey: The hearse carrying the coffin of Baroness Thatcher arrives at Mortlake Crematorium in Richmond, south London. Her ashes were buried alongside those of her husband Denis, who died in 2003

And as the most stirring of Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma variations, Nimrod, soared over the heads of 2,300 mourners and the Lady left the stage via the great West Door of St Paul’s Cathedral, there was happy unanimity: this had been a triumph, true not just to Lady Thatcher herself but also to Britain’s reputation for doing these things impeccably.

Though it wasn’t a state funeral in name, all the component parts were there: the Queen, a gun carriage, the Knights of the Garter, fine hymns, a God-fearing Bishop, a Dimbleby in the commentary box and the Lord Mayor of London processing with the Mourning Sword (last removed from its case for Winston Churchill). Not a squeak of guitar, tambourine or happy clapping either.

All the applause came outside the cathedral, from the hundreds of thousands who had lined the streets of London to salute the Lady as she made her final journey.

Sarah Thatcher, right, consoles her sister-in-law Carol at Mortlake Crematorium as they arrive for the private service

Loss: Mark Thatcher, his wife and two children grieve at the cemetery yesterday

Final leg of her journey: The hearse carrying Lady Thatcher's coffin arrives at Mortlake Crematorium in Richmond, London, after her funeral service at St Paul's Cathedral

Moving: The hearse arrived from the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where Lady Thatcher's late husband Sir Denis is buried. She was interred next to him after the cremation

High security: The hearse is escorted to the crematorium by police outriders after the coffin was loaded into the vehicle by five pallbearers

Leaving the cathedral: Baroness Thatcher's coffin is carried down the steps of St Paul's by the bearer party before being taken to a private cremation ceremony

Patriot: The flag-draped coffin arrives the funeral service of Baroness Thatcher

Controversial: The Bishop of London referred to the Tolpuddle Martyrs
and how Lady Thatcher was an 'ordinary' woman, while PM David Cameron later gave a reading

Address: The Right Reverend Richard Chartres said: 'After the storm of a life led in the heat of political controversy, there is a great calm. The storm of conflicting opinions centres on the Mrs Thatcher who became a symbolic figure - even an ism'

Poignant: A tri-service bearer party, drawn from ships, squadrons and regiments associated with the Falklands, take the coffin on their shoulders as the gun carriage draws away

Lining the streets: Crowds applaud in tribute to Margaret Thatcher as her flag-draped coffin is carried on a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery

Procession: The Union flag-draped coffin bearing the body of Lady Thatcher is carried on a gun carriage drawn by the King's Troop Royal Artillery on the way to St Paul's

There was, unquestionably, tension as the congregation arrived. Monday’s scenes in Boston had served as a reminder of the spectre which Margaret Thatcher confronted daily for half her life.

In the scheme of things, no one was unduly troubled if a few ‘look at me’ adolescents thought it appropriate to heckle a coffin en route. Yesterday, merely amplified the scale of her achievements. Dignity won hands down.

To be inside St Paul’s was to travel back to the era of the brick-sized mobile phone and matching shoulder pad. There was Cecil Parkinson, Lord Carrington, Douglas Hurd and the gang.

There was Joan Collins, Sir Jimmy Young, Michael York, June Whitfield. Were Messrs Lloyd Webber & Rice cooking up a new Evita based on the Girl from Grantham?

Beneath Wren’s great Dome, they had put Lady Thatcher’s small extended family on the north side of the aisle. Thatchers aside, the front row was taken up by the Essex-based Cullen clan – the children and grandchildren of Lady Thatcher’s sister, Muriel. Behind them sat Lady T’s praetorian guard, including her confidante and assistant, Cynthia ‘Crawfie’ Crawford and former press secretary, Sir Bernard Ingham.

The odd one out was the Duchess of York, sandwiched between trusty old warhorses, Lords Bell and Powell.

Further back, old Cabinet colleagues seemed to have been seated according to reliability. Thus, we saw staunch supporters Norman Tebbit and Cecil Parkinson in Row Four while Geoffrey Howe (whose resignation precipitated her own back in 1990) sat hunched in Row Five, one ahead of the axeman, Michael Heseltine, keeping himself to himself in Row Six.

The south side was for the Queen and Prince Philip, PMs past and present and today’s political class. Most of the Tories – and Nick Clegg –were in morning dress with the exception of Ken Clarke and Boris Johnson, both in crumpled lounge suits.

Most of Labour, including Messrs Blair and Brown, were also office-clad. Just behind them, on either side of the aisle, sat two men who should be extremely happy this morning. The overall planning had fallen to the Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude, along with the Queen’s former master of cermemonies, Sir Malcom Ross.

Royal guest: The Queen leaves St Paul's Cathedral with the Bishop of London (left) and the Lord Mayor of London (right) after the St Paul's service

Right royal greeting: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh shake hands with members of Lady Thatcher's family after the service

Protocol: The Queen was attending her first
political funeral since Sir Winston Churchill's in 1965, and stopped to
speak to people as she left

Emotional time: Mark Thatcher scratches his eye as he leaves the funeral service with his wife Sarah and son Michael

The great and the good: Dignitaries walk down the steps of St Paul's after paying tribute to Britain's first female Prime Minister, who served from 1979 to 1990

Service: The coffin of British former prime minister Margaret Thatcher rests as the 2,300 mourners stand during her ceremonial funeral

Difficult time: Lady Thatcher's son Mark Thatcher, his sister Carol and other family members listen to prayers during the service

Confident: Margaret Thatcher's only granddaughter, Amanda, paid tribute to the former Prime Minister with a clear and heartfelt reading at her funeral

Shedding a tear: Chancellor George Osborne becomes emotional during the service for the former Conservative Prime Minister

David Cameron appears to wipe a tear from his eye as his wife Samantha looks on. Also pictured is former Conservative Prime Minister John Major

As her Comptroller, Sir Malcolm had delivered the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales and the Queen Mother.

He had come out of retirement for this one. For all those lazy media observations about Lady Thatcher’s ‘divisive’ legacy, she didn’t half manage some uniting yesterday.

Not only was Sir Mark Thatcher’s first wife, Diane, there, but she turned up with her new husband, Dallas millionaire Jim Beckett. Even the ex-in-laws were there, too. Diane’s parents, Ted and Lois Burgdorf, had flown in from Texas. Finally, the immediate family arrived. Maggie’s twins, Sir Mark (with new wife, Sarah) and Carol (with boyfriend Marco Grass), looked crestfallen but controlled.

Before the funeral, Carol had been to one of her mother’s favourite designers, Anya Hindmarch, to acquire a new handbag in Mum’s honour. As she put it to an old friend before the service: ‘My mother invented handbagging and I wanted one just like hers.’

Ms Hindmarch was one of many personal invitees. Others ranged from Lady Thatcher’s carers to staff from her two favourite hotels – the Goring and the Ritz (where she died) – and four doorkeepers from the Lords. There, too, were the two men responsible for the Lady’s other great weapon – that hairstyle which took on the Iron Curtain and outlived it by more than two decades.

From 1976 until the very end, Paul Allen had been her stylist and Brian Carter her colourist. The Queen and Prince Philip arrived a full ten minutes ahead of the coffin, preceded by the Lord Mayor holding up his suitably lugubrious Mourning Sword.

His task paled before that of the pall-bearers, edging the coffin step-by-step up the Cathedral steps. Although it was not a lead-lined casket like Churchill’s, there was still the odd heart-stopping wobble from the eight bearers. The Monarch hardly needed to look at an order of service taken from the King James Bible and full of hymns she could sing in her sleep.

Choral: David Cameron, George Osborne, the Duke of Edinburgh and The Queen sign a hymn during the service

Rousing tune: Baroness Thatcher is believed to have begun making arrangements eight years ago for the service, which featured the hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country

Ready for the service: The congregation, which comprises friends, family and dignitaries from around the world, talk among themselves

Sombre, but spectacular: Lady Thatcher's grandchildren Amanda and Michael lead her coffin into St Paul's Cathedral

Divided opinion, but was respected: A long list of celebrities, old friends and foes joined royalty and world leaders past and present to pay their last respects to Britain's greatest peacetime prime minister

Appropriately, the Lady’s granddaughter, Amanda, 19, had been chosen for the first reading, ahead of grandson Michael. As she reached the lectern, where her text from Ephesians 6 had been laid before her, Amanda unfolded a well-worn piece of paper – clearly the version with her notes scribbled on it.

In unhurried, smooth American tones, the Virginia student was a credit to both sides of the Atlantic. All hail the Iron Teenager. The Prime Minister was similarly polished in his delivery of John 14 – ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ – but it was the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, who was the toast of the Guildhall wake later on. Margaret Thatcher had plenty of run-ins with the Church and one of the worst was in this very cathedral after the Falklands War in 1982.

When the nation came to give thanks, Archbishop Robert Runcie put the emphasis squarely on reconciliation, not victory. None of that nonsense yesterday. The Lady had long regarded Dr Chartres as a sound ’un and there was no sweaty-palmed equivocation. Much as it will enrage the Left, he even placed her in a direct line of succession going back to the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

They were led ‘not by proto-Marxists but by Methodist lay preachers’ - just like Margaret Hilda Roberts. Ergo, she needed no lectures in social justice.

He even got genuine giggles out of the Queen and Sir Mark Thatcher as he spoke of Margaret Thatcher’s fondness for ‘trying to help in typically uncoded terms’.

Family: Lady Thatcher's grandchildren, Amanda
and Michael (left), wait for their grandmother's coffin to arrive at St
Paul's as her son, Mark and his wife Sarah enter

Sad: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh look on as the bearer party, dressed in their regimental or service uniform, bring the coffin into the cathedral

The bearer party was carefully selected according to their height and were made up of the Royal Navy/Marines, Scots Guards, Welsh Guards, Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, Parachute Regiment, Royal Gurkha Rifles and RAF

Solemn: Members of the armed forces carry Baroness Thatcher into St Paul's for her funeral service

Nearing her final journey: The Union Flag-draped coffin of Lady Thatcher just after it arrives outside St Paul's on a horse-drawn gun carriage

Significant role: The Bearer Party made up of personnel from the three branches of the military stand alongside the coffin

Armed guard: Sailors march during the Ceremonial funeral of former British Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher at Dean's Court

Military honours: The coffin was carried on one
of six First World War-era gun carriages of the Kings Troop Royal Horse
Artillery, used routinely for gun salutes, most recently to mark the
61st anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne

Leading figures: The officer in command of the bearing party was Major Nicholas Mott of the Welsh Guards, while the chief marshal, who will walk behind the procession band, is Falklands veteran Colonel Hugh Bodington

Armed police stand guard over the crowds as the funeral procession, led by a marching band, makes its way through central London

Last journey: The funeral procession for Baroness Thatcher passes along Ludgate Hill

Every vantage point taken: Crowds packed the rooftops to catch a glimpse of the pageantry of the Iron Lady's final journey

Showing their respects in different ways: Pockets of onlookers applauded as the hearse travelled up Whitehall, past Downing Street, while others fell silent

He had experienced it himself at a City dinner. ‘In the midst of describing how Hayek’s Road to Serfdom had influenced her thinking, she suddenly grasped my hand and said very emphatically, “Don’t touch the duck pate, Bishop – it’s very fattening”.’

Above all, in his pulpit-juddering basso profundo, he nailed the old myth that she did not believe in ‘society’, quoting her deeply-held conviction that ‘we do not achieve happiness or salvation in isolation from each other but as members of Society’.

How the Lady would have approved, even if Sir Denis might have grumbled. He famously said that the test of a ‘bloody good’ chaplain, was a pardre who kept his sermon down to seven minutes. Yesterday’s address was a posterior-shuffling 13 minutes and 56 seconds.

Finally, we sang that old throat-gulper, I Vow To Thee, My Country. As we reached the end of the first verse, sunshine broke through the Dome and the flintiest old troopers gulped a little more.

The Thatchers were invited to walk out behind the coffin while the Queen waited in her place for a few protocol-busting moments. As the coffin appeared in the sunlight, three cheers broke out from the crowd; the applause could be heard the length of the cathedral. Shades of Diana 1997.

The Queen waited at the door while the family stood half way down the cathedral steps to see the coffin lowered in to the hearse. Finally, the Monarch came down to express her condolences. The Thatchers seemed immensely touched.

Sombre occasion: Lady Thatcher's son, Mark, comforts his twin sister Carol as they make their way into the cathedral

State occasion: The Queen, who has only ever been to the funeral of one Prime Minister, that of Winston Churchill's in 1965, arrives at St Paul's

Paying respect: Former Prime Ministers John Major (C) and Tony Blair with their wives Norma Major and Cherie Blair (L) arrive at St Paul's Cathedral

Remembering a fellow PM: Current Prime Minister
David Cameron and his wife Samantha arrive dressed in black for the
funeral service

Political representatives: Prime Minister David
Cameron takes his seat as Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow
arrives to pay his respects at the service

Attendees: British opera singer Katherine
Jenkins and London Mayor Boris Johnson are also among the guests for the
funeral service

Guests: The Duchess of York and army veteran
Simon Weston, who suffered horrific injuries during the Falklands War,
arrive at St Paul's to pay their respects

Relaxed atmosphere: Sarah Ferguson has a laugh
and a joke as she takes her seat inside the cathedral ahead of the
funeral service

Political heavyweights: Chancellor George
Osborne and Business Secretary Vince Cable make their way into the
cathedral ahead of the service

Taking their position: Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Minister without portfolio
Ken Clarke

Admirers: Margaret Thatcher's longest-serving
cabinet minister Geoffrey Howe (left) and Michael Portillo who served as
a junior minister under the late PM

Processing in: The service, conducted by the Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres, a long-standing friend of Lady Thatcher, will reflect her public love of her country and her private literary tastes

The mourners dispersed to two receptions – with robust cheers from the crowd for a bashful Norman Tebbit. The Mansion House hosted diplomats from 170 nations. The list included 11 prime ministers, 17 foreign ministers, the president of the European Commission (not her favourite outfit) and two heads of state – Lithuania and Bulgaria.

Eastern Europe had come in droves. They have never forgotten the Lady’s role in liberating them from the communist yoke. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, brought a planeload, including an emotional ex-president Lech Walesa.

Over at the Guildhall, family and friends gathered with all those institutions which had taken such pride in her achievements. The Worshipful Company of Grocers sent its Master to honour the most famous grocer’s daughter in history.

She had been a devoted Chancellor of both Buckingham University and America’s College of William & Mary and left her archive to Cambridge. Their emissaries were all honoured guests.

And her own alma mater? After that incredible act of spite in 1985 – denying the first female PM in history an honorary degree – the dons of Oxford could damn well stand outside.

Honour: The casket was mounted onto the gun carriage to be transported from St Clements to the cathedral

Cortege: The carriage was pulled with a horse down the Strand and Fleet Street towards St Paul's

Off with a bang: As the Lady Thatcher's coffin leaves St Clements Danes Church on route to St Paul's Cathedral, the Honorable Artillery Company fire Processional Minute Guns in front of Tower Bridge

Rammed: Some onlookers had been waiting in Fleet Street for hours to welcome the funeral cortege

En route: The gun carriage on its journey from the church to the cathedral for the ceremony

Cheering: Despite fears of disruptions, most of those in attendance reacted joyfully to the appearance of the cortege

March: A military band walks past, heralding the arrival of Lady Thatcher's coffin at St Paul's

Band: Drummers, trombone players and trumpeters marched through London in ceremonial dress

Prayers: The scene inside St Clement Danes, where prayers were said over Lady Thatcher's body

Commemoration: The short service on the Strand took place around half an hour before the funeral itself

At least her old college, Somerville, which had the grace to make her an honorary fellow, was invited to send its Principal and two students.

Oxford’s Chancellor, Lord Patten, was also there but it had nothing to do with the university. He was listed as part of the job lot marked ‘Cabinet Members, 1979-90’.

Falkland islanders embraced Falklands veterans. Former Royal Marine Gary Clement loved the islands so much that he emigrated there but had flown all the way back for the funeral.

There was Malcolm Simpson, Regimental Sergeant Major of 2 Para who was alongside Lt-Col ‘H’ Jones VC when he fell at Goose Green. There was Squadron Leader Martin Withers DFC, the RAF legend who took his Vulcan on the longest bombing raid in history (8,000 miles) to blow up the Stanley runway.

Nowhere, not even Grantham or Finchley, was grieving more than those islands yesterday (they still mark January 10, the anniversary of her arrival, as ‘Margaret Thatcher Day’).

Roots: People of Grantham in Lincolnshire, where Lady Thatcher grew up, gather at the town's museum to her funeral on a projector screen

Overcome with emotion: A member of public reacts as the coffin containing late former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is taken from St Clement Danes church

Clamber to see: Lady Thatcher, who died last week, was the first British female Prime Minister and served from 1979 to 1990

Emotional occasion: Gloria Martin wipes away
tears while another fan holds an 'I Love Maggie' T-shirt as they join
the crowds on the procession route

First to arrive: Spectators gather by St Paul's Cathedral along the route of today's funeral procession. Many had arrived by 6.30am

Patriots: A man holds a Union Jack umbrella as he leans against a post box as crowds prepare to welcome Lady Thatcher's coffin at St Paul's

Waiting her arrival: At precisely 10.33am, the coffin was due to begin its journey to St Paul's Cathedral, with guns fired from the Tower of London every minute

In her memory: The Union Jack flies half mast over Trafalgar square ahead of the funeral procession for the former prime minister this morning

Security operation: Police head out to their positions after a final briefing to ensure the funeral goes ahead without any violence

Keeping the streets safe: Police sniffer dogs are deployed on Whitehall prior to the funeral service of Baroness Thatcher

Nowhere, not even Grantham or Finchley, was grieving more than those islands yesterday (they still mark January 10, the anniversary of her arrival, as ‘Margaret Thatcher Day’).

Having declared a public holiday, the islanders watched all this on telly before staging an exact replica service (same hymns, same readings) last night in Stanley’s Christchurch Cathedral.

By then, it was time to respect the Lady’s final wish. For all the regalia, the trappings of state, the fine words and music, her overarching concern had been a very simple, entirely human one: to be laid to rest, for eternity, next to Denis.

Emotional scenes: Lady Thatcher's body driven past the Houses of Parliament, where she served for more than five decades

Protection: Police riders accompany the hearse away from the Palace of Westminster on the way to St Clement Danes

Seat of power: The hearse passing Downing Street, where Lady Thatcher lived for her 11 years as Prime Minister

Tribute: Police inside Downing Street watch the hearse drive past

Procession: Undertakers take Lady Thatcher's coffin out of the chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster

Back in Parliament: Baroness Thatcher's coffin resting in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft beneath the Palace of Westminster

THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE FUNERAL OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER BARONESS THATCHER

2,300 - the number of guests that attended the service at St Paul's Cathedral.

170 -
countries were represented by foreign dignitaries (including members
of royal families; serving presidents, prime ministers and foreign
ministers; former PMs and presidents and heads of missions).

11 - Overseas Territories represented.

Eight horses from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery in the procession - led by 'Mister Twister'

4,000 - Officersthe Metropolitan Police on duty.

6,650 - online condolences have been received via the No 10 website.

36,300
views of photos on Flickr released by Downing Street of items related
to Baroness Thatcher and pictures from her time as Prime Minister.

1.2million views to the Prime Minister's Facebook content following the death of Lady Thatcher.